safe harbor for all turtleducks

came for the atla then zutara ate my soul. plz call me kay. she/her. 30 something. i follow back as thetasteoflies. ao3: thetasteoflies

[cupcakelogic]

[bluespirlt]

omashu?.. you mean..

the city founded in honor of star crossed lovers, whose villages were enemies?..

who wore red and blue clothing?..

...

the bait is baiting but i am no better than a fish

[mayskalih]

[fiyazu-lorko]

Hi - I really loved your meta about Zuko's scar affecting vision and hearing. It was very helpful, and thus I come to you with a question that may or may not be for Zutara fanfiction (it is): how would Zuko's facial scar feel from a chronic pain perspective and what would long term treatment look like (once Katara's pushed him into doing it)? based on google I'm guessing it'd be a hypertrophic burn scar but would there be chronic pain/irritation some 10 years later? I know Bryke said that Katara's healing wouldn't be able to remove the scar but it would relieve pain but they aren't med professionals (and I'm writing a modern AU) so I'm unsure how that'd translate. thank you in advance for reading & your time <3

There could definitely be chronic pain such as neuropathic pain (described as painful pins and needles, shooting pain, nerves on fire) that could be managed long term with things like gabapentin, pregabalin or perhaps duloxetine or amitriptyline. Or he might suffer from chronic migraines which can be treated either prophylactically or abortively. Amitriptyline can again be used for this purpose or perhaps something like topiramate or depakote.

Response to injury and chronic pain are difficult things to predict with any degree of certainty, but Zuko suffering from some long term effects seems highly likely to me. Any of the drugs mentioned would be reasonable choices. For headaches specifically, headache hygiene would also be recommended which includes things like adequate hydration, proper sleep, avoiding caffeine and alcohol, etc.

Hope that answers your question!

❤️🧡💛

[dyingroses]

Avatar: The Last Airbender + text posts and stuff

[perfectlypanda]

Zutara Month 2023 Day 26: How I Met Your Mother

Sneaking into Zutara Month at the last minute like what. I may go back and change the ending of this sometime, I’m not thrilled with it but wanted to finish it before Zutara Month was over.

♥ Please do not repost. If you like it and want to show people, share a link to this page instead. Thank you!

[favlie]

(what shoud've been)

-

please do not repost and/or use

[umweiss]

I know those eyes, following me

[demaparbat-hp]

Handprint

[zutarabender]

I try not to engage with discourse, but I gotta say something about the discussion in Zutara circles on whether Zuko is "an awkward turtleduck" or confident and self-assured.

I'm sitting here like. Why not both. I love both. Both are good. And both are true.

He's awkward when he's feeling insecure and vulnerable, especially in the face of new or unexpected situations - which is why we see this attitude in Book 3 mostly (and notably, his date with Jin in Book 2). He's been humbled and he's been forced to question a lot of things; it makes sense he doesn't always find his footing. He also had an isolated upbringing so he will often be oblivious to social cues and won't always have the "right" reactions.

He's very self-assured and decisive when he knows what he's up to and knows what is right and what he's got to do. Book 3 Zuko also knows his own mind and is very determined in shaping his own fate. Final Agni Kai Zuko is not awkward. Southern Raiders Zuko is not awkward. The Zuko that confronted Ozai? Very much not awkward.

I think fan creators can take advantage of the possibilities for the same scenario (ie. a Zuko who's made up his mind to kiss Katara, vs. a Zuko who wants it but is unsure if she does) and every preference here is valid, but I'm a bit confused as to how the meta treats it as if it has to be one or the other.

[stardust948]

[seawitchkaraoke]

Ozai is so pathetic, like that “take his bending away haha he’s harmless now” trick would never have worked on Zuko, if you took his bending away he’d just grab his swords and come at you twice as hard, Azula doesn’t have swords or anything but she’s pretty good at hand to hand and amazing at talking her way out of problems, Iroh bust himself out of prison with no bending at all, meanwhile Ozai? Gets his bending taken away and then just collapses, doesn’t even try anymore, then just sits in prison and tries to get into Zuko’s head some more, he could have trained up and tried to break out too! But no! Bet he can’t break steel bars with his bare hands. Bet he can’t kick a steel lever in two. Bet he can’t even do a flip.

Also we never really see him do any really impressive firebending apart from when he has magic comet power, I guesss he shoots some lightning at Zuko, but that’s it and Azula is still better at the lightning thing. Azula has blue flames. Zuko can do firebreakdancing and bend with his swords. Does Ozai, who is not 14 years old, have blue flames? No he doesn’t.

He didn’t even do his coup himself, Ursa had to kill Azulon for him! Could have just challenged Iroh to an Agni Kai for the throne but he didn’t bc he knew he’d lose.

And then he only ruled for like 6 years! He lost a war that had been going on for 100 years bc of a bunch of kids.

Loserlord indeed

[quendergeer]

[devinellekurtz]

Katara’s Childhood // Katara’s story is really powerful. I wanted to show both the devastating loss she experienced as well as the hope as her father sets out, beginning a long chain of events that eventually include her and her brother bringing freedom and hope to so many people.

By Devin Elle Kurtz (me) Instagram | Twitter

[aidaronan]

The number one thing you can do to help your fave fic writer is share fics. Make rec lists. Share fics on social media. Send them to your friends, discords, group chats.

As has been said many times, AO3 has no algorithm so, unless a fic is popular, the older it is, the less chance there is of someone finding it organically. In other words, sharing keeps fics alive. (The number two thing you can do is actually let people know you like what they're doing in some way.)

[aidaronan]

I also encourage people to sometimes just go searching for fics in a random way. Click a Very Specific tag and read stuff just from that tag. Look in the bookmarks of authors you like and see what they've saved. When you open a tag/ship/fandom and there are 780 pages of fics for it, pick a random page number and change the "page=" in the URL to that number pick your next read(s) from that page. (Clicking on page 2 should populate that page= part of the URL if you don't know how to add it manually.) And when you find fics you love pages upon pages deep, interact with them, share them, rec them. Be loud about the things you love, whatever "loud" means for you, even if it's just yelling in the group chat. Treat AO3 like a library and go rifling through the stacks.

[kigozula]

Katara & Zuko by ARTCRAAWL

[bonksoundeffect]

Finally posting the Water damage siblings judging people too 🚰

+Bonus

My friend's reaction to the wip

[ariamjan]

2025 I’m ready

[iela-0989]

Day 3 - After All These Years

Zutara Month 2023

After, all these years, they're still together, stronger than ever (NON-CANONICALLY of course🙄)

Heavily inspired by the 'not so recent' official art released🤭 Can't help but amused with the way the fandom reacts to the Zutara crumbs~ NGL, I was thrilled myself too😆😆😆

Somehow it feels good to see the Gaang as young adults. BUT, as a bitter Zutarian, I don't hold that much expectation on the upcoming movie. The canon already disappointed me so much. Just don't want to add more to disappointment. My heart still aching at the thought of not being able to see Zuko & Katara together🥹